In a significant development in the J&K sex scandal case,the statement of one of the victims was recorded in the special court of the CBI here on Tuesday. The victim in her deposition has supported the prosecutions case.

She supported all the nine chargesheets and deposed against Sabeena,the alleged kingpin. The development assumes significance as nearly half a dozen victims had earlier retracted their statements. Special Prosecutors R K Handa and Rajan Malhotra examined the witness.

Apart from this,Raja Bala,Superintendent of Police (SP) of the CBI,also deposed before the court. Today he deposed in three cases with regard to the recording of disclosure statements of the victims. He told the court that he had recorded the statements of the victims who had stated that they could identify the house where they allegedly exploited. He deposed that they (victims) were taken to the location where they identified the house of an ex-minister,police officer and an IAS officer in front of independent witnesses.

The case will come up for next hearing on May 3.

The sex scandal had surfaced in Jammu and Kashmir in 2006,in which nine cases for various offences under Section 376 (rape) of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC),Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act and the Information Technology (IT) Act were registered. Sabina,who had allegedly introduced the victims to the other accused,had been named in all the cases.

The case had been shifted to the Chandigarh Sessions Court from the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on September 4,2006.